F1 Driver Jules Bianchi is in Critical Condition After a Crash. Should He Have Been Racing at All?

During the forty-second of 53 scheduled laps in the Japanese Grand Prix in Sazuka on Sunday, Adrian Sutil, a German driver who races for Sauber, lost control in turn seven and spun into a tire barricade in the heavy rain. Sutil was unhurt and a rescue vehicle—a crane that resembles a front-end loader—entered the area beside the track to remove his crippled car.

Moments later, Jules Bianchi, a French driver who races for Marussia, spun out in almost the exact same spot that Sutil had. Bianchi was traveling about 93 miles per hour. His car slid under the recovery vehicle in such a way that it appeared his head made direct contact with the rear of the crane. When Bianchi was extracted from the crash, he was unconscious.

Bianchi remains in critical condition, which makes this F1's worst Grand Prix crash since the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Bianchi's accident occurred under unusual circumstances, and some critics argue the race should never have begun.

So, is Bianchi going to be alright?

It's too early to say. He was unconscious at the scene and later underwent emergency surgery to alleviate a subdural hematoma—bleeding in his head. He's since moved into intensive care at the Mie General Medical Center in Yokkaichi, Japan. His family released a statement yesterday that revealed Bianchi "has suffered a diffuse axonal injury and is in a critical but stable condition."

In a recent blog post, Dr. Gary Hartstein, a former medical rescue coordinator for F1, describes a diffuse axonal injury as an injury to the brain's white matter, the part of the brain that "allows higher-level information processing by hooking up the various brain areas (e.g., visual and auditory.)" The prognosis for these types of brain injuries is grim. According to this online resource for brain injuries, "About 90% of survivors with severe diffuse axonal injury remain unconscious. The 10% that regain consciousness are often severely impaired."

Could the accident have been prevented?

Yes, probably. F1 could have changed the start time or called it off earlier than they eventually did. Some critics, like Walter Straten, the sports editor at Germany's Bild, think they shouldn't have started the race at all. It's not like they didn't know rain was in the forecast. There was a typhoon just off the coast.

Wait, they were racing in a typhoon?

Typhoon Phanfone hadn't technically hit Japan yet, but it rained so hard at the beginning of the race that the drivers started behind a safety car and then stopped for about 20 minutes because of water on the track.

A Safety Car?

Yeah. When conditions are unsafe, they bring out a safety car: just a regular car that all the F1 cars get behind. It goes at regular-car speeds, which are obviously much safer than race-car speeds. The drivers aren't allowed to pass when there's a safety car.

Was there a safety car after Sutil's accident?

No, there wasn't. There was a double yellow flag, however, which "means that drivers must slow down and be prepared to stop if necessary," according to F1 guidelines, "Overtaking is prohibited."

Race officials did deploy a safety car after Bianchi's accident shortly before calling off the race completely, on the forty-fourth lap. This is actually a huge point of contention in the aftermath of the Japanese Grand Prix: Should they have deployed a safety car earlier, after Sutil's accident or even before?

Here's what Sutil had to say:

"In respect of this corner everyone knows it is one of the trickiest ones when it is getting late and the rain increases. If you have an accident there you should think about a safety car. It got a little bit dark in the end and maybe we should have stopped the race earlier."

Felipe Massa, who drives for Williams, was also critical: "I was screaming on the radio five laps before the safety car that there was too much water on the track but they just took a little bit too long. It was dangerous."

The safety car came out on lap 44. Bianchi crashed on lap 42, which means Massa was worried long before the accident.

So what kind of changes might we see to prevent this sort of thing from happening again?

F1 has a fairly good recent safety record. No drivers have died on a race weekend since Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna crashed in separate incidents at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. (Drivers have, however, died at other events driving F1 cars. And Felipe Massa was severely injured in 2009 when a suspension spring hit him in the head during the Hungarian Grand Prix.) Before 1994, deaths happened with relative regularity.

But If anything is going to prompt the FIA, F1's governing body, to make reforms, it's the death or serious injury of a driver. There's already been some chatter about incorporating a closed cockpit in future F1 seasons. Improved safety conditions for his fellow drivers might be Bianchi's legacy.